In Digos, ‘padrinos’ of ‘Last Two’ reign

DIGOS CITY—In open defiance of a city council order, gambling lords continue to have a heyday here, reopening betting outlets that has been shut down, in a pattern of boldness that the city mayor attributed to unidentified powerful individuals protecting gambling syndicates.

Mayor Joseph Peñas said the betting outlets had reopened less than a month after gambling lords put on a show of shutting them down to heed a council resolution ordering police to crack down on illegal gambling.

The council resolution was prompted by the proliferation of outlets collecting bets for the illegal numbers game Last Two, so called because its results are based on the last two digits of winning numbers for the government-run Lotto.

Last Two outlets, popularly known as frontons here, have been put up near churches and offices of the police, which appear to be helpless or tolerating the gambling racket.

Councilor Serafin Senajon Jr., who authored the resolution against gambling, said the open defiance by gambling lords of the council resolution smacked of arrogance that could only mean they were enjoying protection from people with influence.

The resolution had ordered police to dismantle all Last Two betting outlets and arrest the people operating these. The outlets have returned and no arrests have been made.

Mayor Peñas said he believed gambling lords were enjoying the protection of so-called padrinos, or highly influential persons.

The mayor, however, said he couldn’t do anything else but let police do their job. But police are in a state of denial over the existence of the gambling syndicates.

Supt. Solomon de Castilla, city police chief, said he was not aware that the frontons had reopened.

De Castilla also reacted sharply when asked whether bribes made to police were allowing frontons to operate again.

“We did not receive anything,” De Castilla said.

In Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur, police said three people—a bet collector and two bettors—were arrested in recent antigambling operations. Orlando B. Dinoy, Inquirer Mindanao